(Eagle News) — The number of overseas Filipinos repatriated by the Department of Foreign Affairs since the COVID-19 outbreak has reached 90,047.
In a statement, the DFA said that this week alone, it had facilitated the return of 11,688 overseas Filipinos (OFs) which brought the total number of repatriates to over 90,000 since it began repatriation in February.
Of this number, 44.8 percent (40,540 OFs) are sea-based and 55.2 percent (49,957 OFs) are land-based, with the most recent repatriates arriving from the Netherlands, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the United States on Friday, July 17.
This week, the DFA had also facilitated a total of 31 flights from the region: 13 from the UAE, nine from Saudi Arabia, three from Qatar, two from Bahrain, two from Kuwait, one from Lebanon, and one from Oman, which repatriated over 8,500 OFs.
“Two of these flights (Saudi Arabia and Lebanon) were chartered by the DFA using its Assistance-to-Nationals Fund. The flight from Lebanon was the largest single mass repatriation flight for land-based workers in Philippine history,” the DFA said.
The DFA said that it “remains true to its promise to bring home our fellow Filipinos from the Middle East.”
“Sea-based OFs from all over the world likewise continue to come home as the DFA welcomed repatriated seafarers from Canada, Cyprus, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Pakistan, Singapore, and the USA,” it said.
The department also welcomed this week overseas Filipino repatriates from Shanghai, China; Kathmandu, Nepal; Zanzibar, Tanzania; and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
“The DFA, together with its Philippine embassies and consulates around the world, remains fully committed to bringing home our nationals abroad amid the COVID-19 pandemic,” it added.
The continuing repatriation of overseas Filipino is compliance with the directive of President Rodrigo Duterte to bring home and help Filipinos who have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic abroad, including those who have lost their jobs and other means of livelihood.
(Eagle News Service)
